The Church National School (mixed) - Holy Trinity - was built in 1853 for 300 pupils. It was erected on the tufa shelf, not far from the New Bath Hotel and Masson Mill, between what is now the road to Cromford and the River Derwent. The stone building cost £1,200. The money was raised from subscriptions, a parliamentary grant of £205, the National Society gave £50 and the Lichfield Educational Board gave £10. (Figures from Whites Directory, 1857). The site was donated by Peter Arkwright. The school's entrances and classrooms were at road level, with a basement level below them for the headmaster's residence. The schoolroom was 55 feet in length and 33 feet wide; this was later divided into four by folding wooden and glass partitions. Underneath the building were the separate vaulted playgrounds for boys and girls; the pupils were able to look, through the railings, down on the river Derwent some distance below. 

The limestone crags on the opposite side of the River Derwent behind the school are Wild Cat Tor, now more commonly referred to as Cat Tor. These rocks are also behind Masson Mill.